NAF El Centro commander sacked

Jul. 1, 2013 - 06:00AM
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Jones ()

The commanding officer of Naval Air Facility El Centro, Calif., was relieved of his duties Monday — the third straight week that’s started with the firing of a shore-based Navy CO.

Capt. Devon Jones, who took over command in August 2011, was fired by Rear Adm. Dixon Smith, head of Navy Region Southwest, “due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command,” according to a Navy Region Southwest news release. The Navy cannot release further details of Jones’ alleged actions at this time because the case remains under investigation, said Cmdr. Brad Fagan, director of public affairs at Navy Region Southwest.

Cmdr. Erik Franzen, NAF El Centro’s executive officer, will assume CO duties until a permanent successor is named, according to the release. Jones will be assigned to Naval Air Forces “until the outcome of this issue is resolved,” the release said.

Jones was commissioned through Aviation Officers Candidate School in 1986, according to his NAF El Centro command biography. The Southern California native had more than 4,000 flight hours and 850 carrier landings, according to his bio; his previous assignment was as deputy director for manpower policy in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington.

On June 24, the Cmdr. Shawn Hendricks was relieved of his duties as manager for naval enterprise networks, a command billet charged with overseeing the “acquisition lifecycle” of billions of dollars of information technology-related networks. Seven days earlier, Capt. Eric Johnson was relieved from his job atop U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command at Naval Training Center Great Lakes, Ill.